268 XLV. LEGUMINOS^ [Acacia 



petiole 3-4 in. long, often armed with scattered prickles. Pinnae 10-20 pair^ 

 leaflets 30-50 pair, linear, imbricate, glabrous or pubescent, under J in, long^ 

 turning brown in drying. PL pale yellow, in cylindrical spikes ; petals three 

 times the length of calyx. Pods thin, brown, shining, dehisce at. 



Siibliimalayan tract, from the Indus eastwards, ascending in the valleys to 3,000 ft.^ 

 generally gregarious on islands and on the hanks of rivers at their entrance into the 

 plains. Common on the Aravalli hills and in the Western Peninsula, as well as in Burma. 

 PI. May-Oct. With this I unite A. f)undra^ DC. PI. Brit. Ind. ii. 295, kept separate by 

 Talbot List 85, and Trimen Handbook Ceylon ii. 125. The species varies exceedingly^ 

 chiefly in regard to the pubescence of calyx, petals and spike-raohis. Prain in Journ. 

 As. Soc. Bengal, 66 (1898), 508, recognizes 3 varieties : 



(a) Catechu proper. Calyx, petals and rachis covered with spreading hairs. Chiefly 

 in the Punjab, Garhwal and Kumaon, Behar, G-anjam and in the Irawaddi valley of 

 Pegu and Upper Burma, 



(h) Catechuoides. Calyx and petals glabrous, rachis puberulous. Chiefly in the 

 Sikkim Terai and Assam, also in Upper Burma, in Mysore and on the Nilgiris. 



(c) Sundra. Calyx, petals and rachis all glabrous. Chiefly in the Western Peninsula 

 and Upper Burma. 



To some extent the pubescence varies, and it is for further inquiry, whether these 

 three forms differ in their mode of growth or in other respects. 



16. A. Snma, -Buchanan; Brandis I". M. 187; Kurz F. M. i. 421. — Syn. 

 A. Catecliu^ Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 49 ; Mimosa Suma, Eoxb. M. Ind. ii. 563. 

 Vern. Saikanta, Beng. ; Dhaula Khejray Banswara. 



A large or middle-sized tree ; bark white ; branches stiff, flexnose ; 

 branchlets and petioles downy, with soft grey pubescence. Prickles in pairs^ 

 infra-stipular, conical, downy while young, brown shining afterwards. Common 

 petiole 4-10 in. long, unarmed, with a large cup-shaped gland above the base. 

 Pinnae 10-20 pair, leaflets 20-50 pair, linear, approximate, imbricate^ 

 generally ciliate. FL white or pale yellow; spikes lax. Petals not much 

 longer than calyx. Pod 3-5 by f in., pubescent when young. 



Western Peninsula, both on the west as well as on the east side, extending north to the 

 Pertabgarh State in Southern Eajputana. Lower Bengal, Sundriban (Kurz gives it 

 from Ava). Bentham in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 519, doubts whether the proportion of 

 calyx and corolla is constant. But A. Suma has a different h^bit and Foresters will find 

 no difficulty in distinguishing it. 



D. Woody climbers ; stipules not spinescent ; spines not infra-stipular but 

 scattered ; fl. in globose heads ; pods thin, flat, dehiscent. 



17. A. csesia, Willd. ; Brandis P. PL 189.— Syn. A. Intsla, "Willd. ; PL 

 Brit. Ind. ii. 297. Vern. Aila, Hind. ; Chilar^ Mar. ; Eorindam^ TeL 



A large climber ; stem with prominent ridges twisting like a screw ; bark 

 smooth, grey ; branchlets and petioles angular, with numerous short conical 

 sharp prickles. Pinnaa 6-16 pair, leaflets 10-30 pair, coriaceous, more or 

 less pubescent, pale or rust-coloured beneath, I in. long, obliquely linear or 

 oblong, obtuse or acute, nerves distinct, midrib nearer the middle than the 

 upper edge. PL heads pale yellow, in terminal tomentose panicles ; bracts 

 minute, caducous. Pods thin, 4-6 in. long, 1 in, bi'oad, tomentose when youngs 

 glabrotas afterwards. 



Subhimalayan tract from the Chenab eastwards, ascending to 8,000 ft. in SikHm^ 

 Assam, Oachar, Ohittagong. Not known from Burma, Behar, Eajputana, Western 

 Peninsula. FL April-August, Ceylon, Malay Archipelago. 



Prain in Journ. As. Soc. Beng. Q^ (1898) 510 maintains A. cmsia and ii. ItiUia as distinct 

 species, stating ^' that the crowded leaflets, always hairy beneath, make it very easy to 

 recognize A. ccesm, even in the herbarium, and that no one dreams of co&founding the 

 two^as they grow." Bentham (Mimosesa, Trans. Linn. Soe. xxx. 530) followingj as he 

 says, my old Forest Flora, only recognizes one species: A. cmsia, Willd. A form 

 (jolleeted by me on the Pachmarhi hills in April, 1869, with branchlets, petioles, 

 underside of 1. and inflorescence densely tawny-tcmientose is remarkable, hut the 



